i don't have a bucketlist, i go where I want to be

Brooke Gallery

The Gallery was officiated by the Honourable Yang Berhormat Datuk Amar Abang Haji Abdul Rahman Zohari bin Tun Datuk Abang Haji Openg, Deputy Chief Minister of Sarawak, Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture and Minister of Housing and Urbanization and Jason Brooke, grandson of the last Rajah Muda and Director of The Brooke Trust.

The Gallery, sponsored by The Brooke Trust, is a collaboration between the Brooke Trust, the Sarawak Museum Department and the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture Sarawak. The Gallery contains artifacts on loan from the Brooke family and Sarawak Museum Department.

An international team of advisors and subject matter experts was appointed to develop the concept and created a sensitively-curated exhibition design on Sarawak history.

The final installation of the many artifacts, panels and display cases was an effort made possible by a large body of volunteers from Sarawak, the UK and Australia. An enthusiastic group of local volunteers has also come together as the Fort Rangers, to help support the operation of the Gallery. (http://www.brookegallery.org)

I was psyched on the first floor but after the first floor it was just..meh

The first Sarawak flag

SARAWAK Malays have followed in the footsteps of the Dayak in pushing the state government to protect their “sovereign rights”.

The minority ethnic group in the state has submitted a memorandum to Chief Minister Abang Johari Openg, reminding the state administration that in an 1841 agreement signed between the state’s first White Rajah, James Brooke, and the Brunei sultanate, Brooke had agreed to respect Malays’ religion and customs, and protect their “special position” in the administration, before the sultanate relinquished its territory of Kuching to him. (The Malaysian Insight)

‘Perayaan 45 Tahun Sarawak Maju Dalam Malaysia, 1963 – 2008

(The Borneo Post, 2011)

September 11: Chief Minister, Stephen Kalong Ningkan, and three ministers as well as 10 members of the Alliance fly to Kuala Lumpur to meet the Prime Minister and the Secretary of the Colony of Britain, Duncan Sandys. September 13 UNMM presents its report.

“The Mission is satisfied that through its hearings it was able to reach a crosssection of the population in all walks of life and that the expressions of opinion that it heard represent the views of a sizable majority of the population.

The Mission is convinced that the time devoted to hearings and the number of localities visited was adequate and enabled it to fully carry out its terms of references.”

Sir Alexander Waddell announces that Datu Abang Openg is appointed by the Yang Di-Pertuan as the first Yang Di-Pertua of Sarawak beginning from Malaysia Day.

British colonial Governor, Sir Alexander Waddell, and wife leave Astana, the official Brooke residence and that of British governors since 1870, at exactly 12.30pm.

September 16 Tun Abang Openg is sworn in as the first Yang Di- Pertua Negeri Sarawak. Prime Minister of Malaysia Tunku Abdul Rahman reads the Proclamation of Malaysia in front of the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong, Raja- Raja Melayu and thousands of citizens at Stadium Merdeka to mark the birth of a new country named, the Federation of Malaysia.

He says: “The great day we have long awaited has come at last – the birth of Malaysia.

In a warm spirit of joy and hope ten million people of many races in all the states of Malaya, Singapore, Sarawak and Sabah now join hands in freedom and joy.”

Khir Johari reads Proclamation of Malaysia as the representative of the Prime Minister to mark the independence of Sarawak in the presence of Tuan Yang Terutama Tun Abang Openg, Chief Minister Datuk Stephen Kalong Ningkan, the State Cabinet and the people at Padang Sentral (now Padang Merdeka), Kuching, and in all divisions of Sarawak. (Chronology is translated from the official 45th anniversary souvenir book, ‘Perayaan 45 Tahun Sarawak Maju Dalam Malaysia, 1963 – 2008).